‘Kiev talks war when situation calms down, talks peace when things get worse’

Kiev has made no sustained attempts to look for a peaceful settlement to the crisis and the Russians are starting to lose faith that it’s ever going to happen, Alexander Mercouris, International Affairs Editor for Russia Insider, told RT.

RT:Russia's
President called Kiev's forces “essentially a NATO legion.” Would
you agree that the war in Ukraine is being fought now by
foreigners?

Alexander Mercouris: I think that what Mr. Putin
said goes slightly beyond that. Because if you look at what he
said a few days ago at the meeting of a Security Council of the
Russian Federation, he was already talking there about criminal
orders and was referring pointedly to the Ukrainian government
not as the Ukrainian government, but as official Kiev. Now he is
talking about the Ukrainian army as a “NATO legion.”

Essentially he is distancing the whole of the Ukrainian political
and military system from the interests of the Ukrainian nation
and is implying quite clearly that they are fighting for a
greater political goal that is not a Ukrainian one but a NATO
one.

RT:Putin also suggested that Kiev doesn't
want to use peaceful measures to resolve the conflict. Yet the
Ukrainian president has been pledging his commitment to a peace
deal. So why are we seeing the escalation of violence?

AM: The problem here is that Ukraine has
repeatedly committed itself to peace deals and entering into
constitutional negotiations with the people who are opposed to it
in these Eastern regions. Kiev has always withdrawn from these
negotiations, they’ve never happened. What tends to happen is
that when the situation seems to calm down, Kiev talks war; when
the situation becomes more difficult for Kiev, it then comes back
and once again talks about peace.

But there has never been from Kiev any sustained attempt to look
for a peaceful settlement. And my feeling about this is that the
Russians are starting to lose any faith that that’s ever going to
happen. And this is what we are hearing from Mr. Putin now.

RT:Ukraine's president also declared a high
alert across the country and a state of emergency in the East.
What does that mean for the public in Ukraine?

AM: Well, at one level it’s rhetorical because
of course the Eastern regions have been in a state of war for the
better part of the year now. So it’s hardly going to increase the
violence there. But I don’t think it is just an escalation of
rhetoric. Making these kinds of statements increasingly puts the
whole of the Ukraine on a war footing. And given that there are
protests increasing not just against the government in the
Eastern regions, but in other places, Kharkov and Odessa, and
against military mobilization in other parts of the country it
strengthens the legal position of the Ukrainian government to
deal with protests in these places.

What we are looking at is a general escalation in rhetoric and in
actions. And I’m afraid that has to suggest more conflict too.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.